The Potash Corp of Saskatchewan, the fertilizer producer, confirmed on Monday that it was seeking bids to counter an unsolicited US$38.6 billion offer from BHP Billiton, the Australian mining company.
William Doyle, chief executive of Potash, said in an interview that his company had entered preliminary talks with other companies some time ago in anticipation of a bid from BHP.
“We’re not starting from zero,” Doyle said. “We’ve had a tremendous outflow of people looking to do something with us.”
The announcement of negotiations followed the decision by the directors of Potash to reject the bid from BHP, which values the company at US$130 a share, for a second time.
As was the case when Potash first revealed the bid from BHP last week, Doyle dismissed it as an attempt to exploit a decline in shareholder value that was tied to the recession.
He declined, however, to specify what price could sway the Potash board.
Which companies Potash is in talks with, and what sort of arrangements were being discussed, remained unclear.
Speculation has focused on BHP’s two rivals in the mining community: Rio Tinto, which is also from Australia, and Vale, the Brazilian company that is a leading producer of iron ore. Since China is the world’s largest importer of potash, some analysts also say they believe that a Chinese state-owned company may bid for Potash.
However, Doyle suggested in the interview that a broader range of companies is at least having a look at Potash.
“You should not limit your imagination as to what sectors they are from,” he said.
Vale denied it was one of the companies.
“Rumors about a bid to acquire a fertilizer company or about negotiations with the purpose of making a bid to acquire such company are totally unfounded,” the company said in a regulatory filing.
A spokesman for BHP declined to comment.
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from